Last week CBC news reported that surveys of the Bathurst migratory barren-ground caribou herd had dropped from 128,000 in 2006 to 31,900 this year. The herd now has to cross an ice road on its migratory path and there are a number of mines within its traditional range. Caribou are known to be very sensitive [...]

This October, BirdLife International will release its highly-anticipated Important Bird Areas Americas, part of their Important Bird Areas Programme. Similar publications have been made for regions like Europe and Africa, and this will serve as the largest compilation of Important Bird Areas in one document.
Coined a “cartography of hope”, the publication will provide maps showing locations [...]

Charest - © Hans Westerling (Flickr); Boreal - © Garth Lenz
Last week over 500 scientists from Quebec and around the world sent a letter to Quebec Premier Jean Charest asking him to fulfill his commitment to protect half of Quebec’s Boreal Forest, which I described in an in-depth blog post last week. The letter not only emphasized [...]

Here’s an op-ed I recently placed in the Maine newspaper the Bangor Daily News. Here’s a link to the op-ed on their website:
http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/120590.html  
Maine residents share with Canada bonds of history, family and economics. This particularly pertains to the province of Quebec, since we share a border of hundreds of miles that forms not only the northern [...]

Boreal Forest in Quebec
Credit: Garth Lenz
Today a letter signed by over 500 scientists from 30 countries was delivered to the Quebec government. The letter reiterated the scientific principles behind the government’s original promise to protect half of its northern Boreal Forest, a pledge that was announced last fall. At that time Quebec Premier Jean Charest [...]

Late last month the government of Peru announced that it would be protecting over 1 million acres of tropical Amazonian rainforest near the Brazilian border. The newly-formed Matsés National Reserve is named after the native Matsés people, who were only first contacted by the outside world in 1969. They have continued to live largely as [...]

 
Doppler Radar
Taken from the NOAA Public Image Library
For most birders a pair of binoculars or a scope can be the best way to spot birds, if not just the naked eye. But there’s another very interesting way to see them from a different perspective: radar.
Most migratory birds do their travelling at night. Calmer atmospheric conditions, [...]

Canada Warbler
Credit: Jeff Nadler
Global trends have shown increasing numbers of species becoming at risk or endangered, and this year Ontario is no exception. A total of 10 species, including 6 Boreal birds, have been added to Ontario’s list of species at risk, whereas only one, the Bigmouth Buffalo, has been removed. While each species have [...]